Digital + Social

Casual apparel retailer has taken another step to re-engage customers, this time with an innovative adaptation of Web couponing that lets online shoppers negotiate for the price they’re willing to pay

A contest at a plant in Jackson, TN, that makes Aunt Jemima frozen waffles, pancakes and French toast, led to three employees starring in a video filmed at the plant and documenting how the products are made. The first video in the series of three was posted Feb. 17 on Facebook and had 33,000 views within 24 hours. Viewers could also download a $1 coupon. Andy Reichgut, a vice president of marketing for Pinnacle Foods, which manufacturer’s Aunt Jemima products, gives us the scoop on the program.

An eye-catching subject line helped 3-D Web conferencing firm Proton Media to drive people back to their site and blog.

Watershed moments can come in unusual places. In 2007, Clara Shih had one in a tiny noodle shop located on a nondescript Hong Kong side street when she overheard two old men talking about Facebook.

“It seemed like the wrong place, the wrong language, and the wrong demographic,” Shih, founder and CEO of Hearsay Corp., told an audience at a Direct Marketing Club luncheon. But as she listened she understood their interest in what was then a nascent social network which boasted barely 20 million members.

Facebook has grown a touch during the intervening four years, with current users topping a half-billion people. Its importance to marketers has similarly expanded: Shih cites a survey in which 72.5% of U.S. companies consider social media a top marketing priority.

Chief Marketer recently talked with Craig Fitzgerald, editorial director of Waltham, MA-based e-newsletter firm IMN, to get his thoughts on what types of content work best in B-to-B newsletters, best practices, and what to avoid if you want to keep your audience opted-in and reading.

How do you build a critical mass of followers in social media-those social-grid head counts that are a prerequisite for giving a social campaign viral lift? In the case of online cycle gear seller Motorcycle Superstore

As brands come to use and understand Facebook more, they learn the best promotional strategies and tactics for them to best engage their audience like these promotions run by Speed TV and Miller Lite. one of the most important techniques a brand must learn is how to optimize posts to make them more “likeable,” or worthy of clicking “like.” There are many ways to do this, but the method that is by far the most mysterious to brands is the often misunderstood News Feed.

Purdue University boosted the open rate for follow-up emails to accepted students by 7%, and increased the clickthrough by an impressive 33%.

As email marketing has matured, the ability to measure the channel’s performance has evolved substantially. Yet all too often, marketers rely on rudimentary campaign metrics from the batch-and-blast days of the past to judge effectiveness.

Instead of thinking exclusively about how well a particular offer or piece of creative performed, marketers should additionally look to longitudinal metrics—measurements of subscriber engagement over time—to determine whether or not an email program is successful.

One of email’s greatest strengths is its measurability. Marketers regularly evaluate campaigns against standard response metrics such as delivery rates, open rates, click rates and conversions. These are all excellent criteria for how well a particular offer or message resonated with the target audience. Further, those who are willing to test multiple combinations of copy and presentation (from lines, subject lines, content, creative, layout, etc.) can achieve highly optimized rates of response at a campaign level.

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